Our Fitness Blog

How Crazy Should Your Workouts be to Get Real Results?

So many people begin a new workout program or begin their workout program again, and when they do, they start off with a bang. When I say bang, I mean boom! They workout so hard. Hard enough for 3 people. The next 3 days, walking is nearly impossible. Then finally 4 days later, they’re back at it again. As hard as they can go… Meanwhile, living on as little calories as humanly possible.

Two weeks in, they’re getting grumpier, not losing much on the scale, and feeling just plain run down.

They take a week off. No problem right? “After a week,” they say, “I’ll be rested up and back at it, HARD.”

Ok, a week later, back at it…yayyyy! But, they feel like it’s practically the first time they have ever worked out!

Yuck!

Determined, they work out 6 times that week and eat like a rabbit. The following week? Just once.

This kind of behavior is so common in the fitness world. It’s as bad as yo-yo dieting.

It’s basically yo-yo exercising. Why does this happen and how can we prevent it?

If you are new to exercise, I highly recommended that you start with 3 times a week. This may feel like a really lowly goal because you, (with your new found inner hero,) are really feeling that 7 times a week is the ticket and aren’t even considering a rest day until you’re in that bikini.

But, if you were to choose the first scenario I described in this article or trying the “lesser” goal for 3 months without deviating from three workouts a week for 30 minutes, which do you think would end up actually being more realistic and more effective?

The latter, obviously.

When people have what I call intense intention, they can easily set themselves up for a disaster as described in the onset of this article.

Let’s be smarter than that. Let’s set ourselves up for a win.

You need to understand that consistency for months is more important than a few really hard, all out workouts here and there.

If you’ve fallen off the fitness wagon once or more times, try this way instead:

Try downsizing your commitment.

Aim for 3 times a week, but absolutely NO misses. Workout at a moderately hard level, not balls to the wall level.

This might seem counter-productive but trust me, you’re more likely to actually keep this up than any other schedule. After 3 months, you’ll actually have some serious progress made and it won’t include the two weeks here and there that you were barely able to move or ate the whole house that weekend or didn’t do any workouts for an entire week. You’ll also have a track record that you’ll have a lot of pride in. When you achieve that many consistent workouts, it also makes you less likely to allow yourself to break your record and highly motivates you to keep on with the routine. I believe they call that a win/win.

Consistency is the real secret, even though it’s not really a secret at all. It’s not really ground breaking news, actually. In fact, it’s probably one of the most boring bits of advice for some to hear.

But, it’s often the un-fun, non-sexy, & boring method that we must do in order to yield the fun, sexy and awesome results we are saying we want!

No one will be there when you start. No one might recognize you half way into your consistent routine. But, as time goes on and you are nearing the goal, suddenly people will start to say, “Hey, you look good! What have you been doing?”

And, you’ll be able to smile to yourself and say to them, “You know, nothing crazy; just exercise and eating right, consistently. It actually works!”

Heather Hudson has been with 9Round since inception in 2008 and is COO and Co-Founder of 9Round Franchising. She is a black belt in Shotokan Karate and grew up with a passion for fitness and overall wellness.